Development and Innovation Section

Development and Innovation Group, 2014

This section is developing new techniques with the explicit aim of implementing them into general health care practice. Next generation sequencing is allowing us to hugely increase the volume of DNA and RNA analyses, while reducing costs. Profiling the genetic variation of patients and healthy individuals is now within reach. However, translating these findings into prevention, improved diagnoses, and treatment of diseases is a real challenge and requires close collaboration between experts from various fields, both inside and outside our genetics department.

development of new diagnostic tools for monitoring and treatment preferences of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma: genetic mutations as potential novel molecular markers (PhD project of Ferronika Paranita)

The section includes the Genome Analysis Facility (GAF), which runs a service for SNP array genotyping, expression arrays and next generation sequencing. For the sequencing experiments, the GAF collaborates closely with the department’s bioinformatics section (Genomics Coordination Center, GCC).

The Development & Innovation section is headed by Dr Rolf Sijmons, Professor of Medical Translational Genetics. His staff includes 4 molecular biologists, an expert on statistics in genetics, the manager of the Genome Analysis Facility, and several lab technicians. The section often has PhD students and other graduate students working in its lab.